How to Create Access Groups in SureMembers

Access Groups control who can see specific content on your site. If you want to protect pages, drip content over time, or show custom messages to users without access, you’ll need to create an access group first.

What Is an Access Group?

An Access Group is a way to control which users can view specific content on your site.

For example, you can:

• Allow only paying members to see premium content
• Restrict downloads to certain users
• Unlock content piece by piece over a set schedule, like one lesson per week

You can manage everything in one place using the SureMembers dashboard, including protected content, drip schedules, and what happens when someone without access tries to view a page.

Step-by-Step: Creating an Access Group

Step 1: Open SureMembers

Go to your WordPress dashboard and click SureMembers in the sidebar. Then click “Add New” to create a new group.

Step 2: Name Your Group

Give your access group a name that helps you recognize its purpose, like “Pro Members” or “Course Students.” This name is only visible to you and won’t be shown to users.

Step 3: Choose What Content to Protect

This setting controls which content will be restricted to users in this access group.

Under Protected Content, you can either:

• Select specific pages, posts, or custom post types (like courses or products), or
• Choose to protect the entire website (recommended for full member-only sites)

Once selected, only users in this group can view the protected content. Everyone else will be blocked or shown your chosen unauthorized access message or redirect.

About Exclusions

You’ll also see an Exclusions field below. This is for making exceptions to what you just protected.

Important: Exclusions are not the content you’re protecting. They’re the content you’re removing from protection.

So if a page is listed under Protected Content but also added to Exclusions, it will be publicly accessible or visible to other groups.

Example:

• You protect all “Courses”
• Then exclude one free lesson
• That lesson will be visible to everyone, even users outside the group

Use exclusions only when you want certain pages to stay public or shared across groups.

Step 4: Add Drip Content (Optional)

If you want content to unlock over time instead of all at once, click “Add Drip Content.”

• Search for the page, post, or content you want to drip
• Set when it should become available (like 7 days after the user joins the group)
• Repeat for each item you want to release on a delay

This is useful for lessons, modules, or scheduled content access.

Step 5: Add Downloads (Optional)

You can make downloadable files available only to group members.

• Click “Add Download”
• Select or upload files from your Media Library

Step 6: Set Up Unauthorized Access Behavior

Choose what should happen if someone outside the group tries to access protected content.

You have two options:

• Redirect: Send them to any URL (e.g., login page or sales page)

  

• Display a Message: Show a custom message with extra controls

  

If you display a message, you can:

• Display the message in content, meaning that you don’t see the full page “Access Restricted” notice. This is only applicable to blog posts.
• Show an excerpt (for blog posts only)
• Add a custom message (e.g., “Please subscribe to view this content”)
• Customize the button text and link
• Enable a login prompt for non-logged-in users

Step 7: Set an Expiration Date (Optional)

You can make access temporary by setting:

• A relative expiry (e.g., 30 days after joining)
• Or a fixed date (e.g., December 31, 2025)

When expired, users are automatically removed from the group.

Step 8: Sync with a User Role (Optional)

User Role Sync allows you to automatically assign a specific WordPress user role to anyone added to this access group.

For example:

• Add users to this group, and they automatically become a Subscriber
• Or assign them a custom role like “Pro Member” when they gain access

This is useful if you want certain plugins or parts of your site to react based on user role (not just access group membership).

You can choose from:

• Built-in roles like Subscriber or Customer
• Roles created by other plugins
• Custom roles you create via SureMembers → Settings → Create User Role

Step 9: Set Priority (If a User Is in Multiple Groups)

If a user is added to more than one access group, SureMembers uses the Priority setting to decide which group rules to apply.

• A higher number means higher priority
• For example, a group with priority 10 will take effect over a group with priority 5

This helps when layering access levels, like giving paid members more access than free users.

You’re Done

After saving, your access group is ready to use. You can now apply it to block restrictions, shortcodes, product integrations, and more.